


The Date

by drekadair



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies)
Genre: Bittersweet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 18:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1195731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drekadair/pseuds/drekadair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After waking up, Steve keeps a promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Date

He waited until Saturday night, but only barely. The week wore on with painful slowness: seventy years had passed him by in the blink of an eye but a few days stretched to infinity. There were people who wanted to see him, important people: officers, politicians, and those like Fury who didn't seem to fit into any box Steve recognized. He was polite to them, more out of habit than interest. There was paperwork, too, which was both a blessing and a curse. Bureaucracy, it seemed, was one of the few things that hadn't changed while he was asleep—but on the bright side, someone convinced the government to give him seventy years-worth of back pay. Steve suspected this minor miracle was an attempt by Fury to bribe him into cooperation. Still stunned by the enormity of what had happened to him, he didn't feel much inclined to be cooperative, but he took the money and was grateful for it.

He spent some of it on small excursions he took into the bizarre city New York had become, spending it mostly on newspapers and hotdogs bought from sidewalk vendors. These were things that were familiar to him, unlike the enormous televisions mounted that had replaced bilboards, or the shocking clothes worn by the women he walked past. He felt that somehow, once his errand was accomplished, he could begin to accept these new innovations, to pick up the threads of a new life rather than drift aimlessly, clutching at the tatters of his old one. That feeling tempted him not to wait, but the need to keep one part of his promise, no matter how small, kept him strong.

When Saturday came, he spent an exorbitant amount of money to take a cab to a cemetery whose name one of his Army visitors, a fan of his comics and eager to do a favor for the famous Captain America, had managed to provide him. He stopped only once on the way there, to buy flowers.

It was a nice cemetery—if any cemetery can be said to be nice: the close-clipped grass lush and green despite the summer heat, the rows of flat headstone shaded by oaks and maples. He took his time wandering back and forth along the rows as the air turned hazy and blue with twilight, looking for the right grave, but kept an eye on his watch—another of his small purchases. At eight o'clock exactly he stopped and read the inscription on the stone at his feet.

Peggy Carter  
1912-2001  
Beloved Wife and Mother

He covered the bottom line of words with his bouquet and said into the falling darkness, “Sorry I'm late.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure this particular scenario has been done a few times, but I just saw Captain America for the first time and I got all teary-eyed at the end EVEN THOUGH I KNEW HE DOESN'T DIE. And I wanted to write this to deal with my emotions. So. Kudos are always appreciated, but I really love reviews, even if they're short.


End file.
